Internet used to be a trusted domain until cyber criminals/authorities catch up with technology. Nowadays, it is easy to sniff unencrypted data packets travelling from your devices to Wifi to steal your password or easy for governments to block access to certain websites and online services. Whether you are looking to protect yourself from online cyber criminals or seeking to access blocked websites, you need to know about Virtual Private Networks or VPN. VPN is an extra layer of security that create a safe tunnel that won't be easily accessible by anyone else except you.

For anyone wishing to surf the Internet with security in mind and remain anonymous, using the Internet with VPN has become a norm these days. Here is a list of VPN services that are available for FREE that will allow you to browse the Internet without much worry.

GoVPN free VPN service enables you to browse the web the way you like it and get a secure connection between your device and the internet. All it knows about you is your email address and nothing else. It provides 24/7 support, servers located around the world to remove geo content restrictions and encrypts VoIP services. The FREE tier has 500MB/month data cap and if you want more you can elect to go for their premium service to enjoy unlimited data.

VPN Defender is another VPN service provider made by Smart Sense. It claims to be fully automated so that you don't have to manually tune the VPN every time to securely browse the Internet. It works on WiFI, LTE,3G and even personal hotspot! Typically VPN service will have free tier and premium(pay) tier. However, VPN Defender is providing their services for free! wow!

Get Private VPN claims to provide super fast servers located world wide that creates a impenetrable tunnel that prevent data sniffers, hackers and Internet service providers from viewing your private information and web browsing activities. Their motto is "Secure, Private and Anonymous!". However, there is a catch, Get Private VPN service only works on Windows XP/7 and Vista platforms. There's no mention of it services working on iOS, OS X or Android.

ZPN provides up to 10GB per month of free VPN access but with limited bandwidth. See ZPN's pricing. Their main selling point is that they are fast, reliable and able to support major VPN protocols such as L2TP/IPSEC and OpenVPN. Because ZPN uses gigabit dedicated server located worldwide, you will be able to enjoy high quality and fast video browsing. Not only that, with ZPN you will be able to access content that are geo restricted such as Hulu, Netflix and some YouTube channels.

ZEN mate claims to help you stay secure, anonymous and able to unblock sites from other countries. They offer personal support answer on any individual questions that you might have to make your experience using ZEN mate VPN service as smoothly as possible. One thing that make ZEN mate different is that they also provide browser extension to all the popular browsers out there for protection against hacking or man-in-the-middle attack.

Another free VPN service provider is proXPN. Now, when they say it is free... it is free for life for basic account! The free account offer the same level of security of Premium Accounts with no data limit but it has bandwidth speed limit of 300kbps and restricted to one location in USA. To get more features, proXPN offers a 30 days risk-free trial for new users of proXPN. Do check out the premium pricing at https://www.proxpn.com/#pricing. Premium account will unlock locations around the world and allow you to access geo restricted content.

Now, Finch VPN claims to encrypt all the data that you send and receive. Everything is scrambled and leaving nothing to be inspected by ISP attempting to prioritize or throttling your data. It also claim to improve your connection speed and allow you to watch geo restricted content on some countries such as China. One thing that I like about FinchVPN is that in the pricing page, the prices are converted to your local currency...depending on which country you are browsing from and they also accept payment up to 80 international payment methods. Wow!

If you take a look at their About page, they want to provide the best for their user, but do not tolerate acts such as abuse, spamming and child pornography materials. Yes! Paedophile also like to use VPN to cover their track online and Finch VPN will take action against child pornographers.

My personal favourite for accessing blocked website via hide.me free proxy also provide VPN service. With hide.me, you can surf and visit blocked websites without worrying someone else getting hold of your identity, real location or IP....not even the VPN service provider! It claims to prevent government and other bad guys surveillance, identity thieves and enable you to become truly anonymous. If you want to visit a blocked website, but do not want to install software on your computer, you can head over to their free proxy service.

HOTSPOT SHIELD is one of the most popular VPN services out there. It also claims to be the most trusted VPN service in the world. One feature that make HotSpot Shield stood out is that they compress and encrypt the data that you send and receive. Hence, you get to download more content for the same bandwidth cost. When you click on the free download button, it will automatically send you the right package for your device and operating system. However, in return it will also prompt you for your phone number to send you additional link for your other devices. Errmm.. I prefer to remain anonymous and choose not give out my phone number. Nowadays, it is easy to find out who is the phone number owner just by searching for the number with search engine. No more privacy :-(

The free version is supported by advertisement and if you opt not to see any advertisement, you can choose to pay for their ELITE version. It costs around $29.95 per annum and you can get to enjoy more benefits with the ELITE version such as multi-device support, dedicated customer support, cloud based malware protection and best of all no extra download to install. Just enter a unique code to the existing free HotSpot Shield VPN to unlock the benefits.

Questions and Answers :

Do you really need a VPN service?

Yes if you want to access blocked website, protect your browsing habit from privy eyes or geo restricted content. Privacy ... well... if you happen to have a social media profile like Facebook or Google+... you already given up your privacy.

Data travelling through VPN service provider are encrypted, but can the VPN service provider break the encryption and take a look at customers data?

Possible, since the VPN provider is the one that encrypts the data... it is very likely that they can decrypt the encrypted data with ease. Again, read the terms of service carefully. Some VPN applications can install root certificates on your devices. This will give them the ability to monitor all data going in and out, which could also mean compromising your security. Imagine all your banking passwords, emails and OAuth tokens going through the VPN pipelines naked.

Summary :

As the old adage goes. If it is free, then you are the product. I would rather pay for VPN service than use free version. :-)

By AdamNg

IF you gain some knowledge or the information here solved your programming problem. Please consider donating to the less fortunate or some charities that you like. Apart from donation, planting trees, volunteering or reducing your carbon footprint will be great too.